MLB 12 The Show Franchise Mode Improvements

Next up on our MLB 12 The Show developer blog tour is our Franchise mode and the improvements coming to players this year. One of our goals going into this development cycle was to enhance the trade logic for CPU teams to better mimic their real-life counterparts. In order to do so, we had to examine the current system and identify the faults to then build and improve upon it. This year we are considering more factors in each trade offer, with the end result being more realistic trades. Teams are valuing their rosters much higher this year, and they aren’t going to ship out prospects so easily, nor will they offer up too many players to fill a positional void. You’ll also see more trades that better suit the teams’ current strategies (i.e. playoff push vs. rebuilding strategies).

Another addition to the trades system is the interface itself. We’ve revamped the trade screen to bring you more detailed information about the players involved and the likelihood of the trade offer being accepted. All of this is aimed at providing more information to help you make sound moves. Here’s a look at this feature on PS Vita. As we’ve said from the start, MLB 12 The Show on PS Vita will utilize all of the core gameplay features found in the PS3version, and this is no different here!

I know there’s a lot of interest out there about our PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita integration this year so I wanted to make sure I touched on our Cross-Platform Saves functionality. This feature allows you to take your Franchise, Season, and Road to The Show save files up to the cloud where you can then access those files from either your PS3 or PS Vita. You are limited to one file per mode per PSN user account, which can be overwritten as many times as you’d like.

Moving on to other areas of change, we’ve gone back through the player generation logic to bring you more realistic skill sets for the CPU generated players. You will now see more authentic pitch repertoires, with velocities to match, and less overall balanced players (more speedsters, good hitting/average, below average fielding, etc.).

After addressing the player generation issues, we dove into the team lineups and how they slot players. We’ve come up with a more accurate system that better mimics real Major League lineups. This enhancement is carried throughout all of our season-based modes, including Franchise, Season, and Road to The Show. Once again, here’s what this feature will look like on your PS Vita screen!

After we addressed the important player logic issues, we looked at areas of the user interface to further improve your Franchise experience. The Franchise home menu has been enhanced, bringing you more team and league content, including…adding in your next game information, displaying the current standings, and showing you the current league leaders for batting and pitching. These additions aren’t limited to the Major League ball club, and are also accessible to your Triple-A and Double-A teams.

One last interface area we expanded upon was the player card. We’ve revamped the display to bring you more content in a sleeker package. The player card is also now available during games. You can access a player’s card in any game screen that allows you to highlight that player.

As you can see a lot of focus has been placed on improving the Franchise mode experience this year, enhancements that can be found on both PS3 and PS Vita! Don’t forget, MLB 12 The Show for PS3 and PS Vita will be hitting store shelves in just a few weeks on March 6th. Be sure to keep an eye on the PlayStation Blog and TheShowNation.com for more information in the coming days and weeks on this year’s game.

36 Comments

LOVE all the improvements this year. They definitely play towards a franchise Simulation junkie like myself.

One more thing though…are there plans to release a vita-specific trailer (or demo prior to release) or gameplay footage? I’ve seen a bit here and there but I’d love to see everything explained in a little more depth!

Now, if you could only allow us to change the number of games per year in franchise mode like you can in season mode (There should be more options for what that number is, but whatever) everything would be peachy. I hate having to play a watered down franchise, and there is no way I can play multiple seasons at 162 games per (and I’m not going to sim). Why can’t this be done? This seemingly small gripe is actually a big deal as far as I’m concerned.

I love the improvements very streamline. My only gripe with SCEA San Diego especially the MLB team is the antiquated way they do blogs. It is time to Use video too show these things so we can see confirmation of how these things work.

The trade system you should sim til at least August and then see show how these things work. Once upon a time a picture was worth a thousand words, but now a video is worth a billion. Step your game up MLB the Show team.

@13 I don’t know if you have heard, but they said they are adding in a “Diamond Dynasty” mode. It is rumored that it uses cards and is a lot like Madden’s Ultimate Team. It would be cool as baseball entails itself more to cards than any other sport.

#19 – I hadn’t heard about the “Diamond Dynasty” mode but, it really makes since. The Ultimate Team mode in Madden is one my favorite modes. Plus, with Topps already involved with MLB 12, I can envision a series of actual, physical baseball card packs. Real world card packs that have ulta-rare insert cards with DLC codes for in-game players.

Ooh, they could also do that with cards on the back of Twinkies boxes… Anyone remember the old baseball cards on Twinkies box- No? Just me? Sigh…. Memories…….

when you by MotorStorm RC you get it for free on the Vita, since its essentially the same game. And it has cross play ability.

MLB The Show 12 is essentially the same game on PS3 and VIta, same engine and everything, and it has cross play functionality.
as a pre-order bonus, they should include a voucher download code in the PS3 version, so you can download the Vita version for FREE or heavily discounted, to make the cost of the Vita version like $10-$15… absolutely no more than $20.
you already paid $60 for the game, so the may as well reward you for pre-ordering.

Honestly, what will make or break me from buying this years installment is knowing whether or not they include changes that the MLB has already announced for the 2013 season (Houston Astros will be moving to the AL Central division, and the playoffs will be extended). Considering that in RttS mode you won’t make your MLB debut at least until the 2013 season, I think these should be important to the game.

Question about crossplatform support. Everything I read talks about the “cloud” I am not a Playation Plus member is Playstation Plus a requirement for cross platform suppoprt or can I transfer my saves via USB Cable???

David Freese gets his Clutch bar filled up based solely on the WS. The guy never had a 100 RBI season, not even 100 RBIs total in 3 seasons. But, he had a few good whacks in the WS, and that gets his Clutch bar filled up, interesting, but to me another example of over-rating a player.

“David Freese gets his Clutch bar filled up based solely on the WS. The guy never had a 100 RBI season, not even 100 RBIs total in 3 seasons. But, he had a few good whacks in the WS, and that gets his Clutch bar filled up, interesting, but to me another example of over-rating a player.”

Dude David Freese only played 17 games in 2009 and then only 70 games in 2010 and then missed 2 months in 2011. He has not played a full season yet but after his injury in 2011 he returned and batted .297 and 10 HR and 55 RBIs and was clutch in the post season. He probably does not deserve a 100 rating but his other numbers will knock his skill back some. I would say he is rated pretty well for what he has done.